Dispelling truths about our favorite dynasty

We are doing a countdown to Elizabeth I’s coronation so we start with January 12. On the twelfth of January Elizabeth lodged on the Tower of London, preparing for her upcoming coronation. She and her train passed through the most important streets of London and Westminster until reaching their final destination. She followed the protocol described in Liber Regalis -A royal manual for such occasions.

“In short, the processions was -and was designed to be- a test of the sovereign’s popularity. Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth’s mother, barely passed. Henry VIII had spared no expense and everywhere there were his and Anne’s initials or cipher, ‘HA’, laced by a lover’s knot. But the women especially hated the flashy mistress made good and as she passed mocked her by crying out, ‘Ha, ha!’, in parody of her royal cipher. That, at least, is what Chapuys, Anne’s inveterate enemy, claimed. But Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn’s daughter, passed her test with flying colors.” (Starkey)

Previously, two months ago when she received word of her sister Mary I’s death, tradition had it that she was sitting on an oak tree as her namesake and great-grandmother Elizabeth Woodville had been when she met the dashing King, Edward IV. Upon receiving the regal ring, Elizabeth told the messenger citing from the Psalm 118:

“This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes”

After years of struggling, and being at the heart of intrigue, Elizabeth’s time had come. The reign of Gloriana was about to begin.